Even Trained Dogs Disobey
by princ3ssf33t
Summary: The cold feeling that accompanied silence wasn't something that was unfamiliar to Riza. And being reassigned under the Fuhrer, she found the coldness was almost unbearable. It would be simple to dial a number and hear the voice that could banish it. But she couldn't disobey her own rules. Luckily, she didn't have too.


Going long periods of time without speaking wasn't unusual in Riza Hawkeye's life. She was a soldier in the military, it was her duty to take and follow orders, rather than mouthing off and doing her own thing. That was the way to get yourself killed. Either from an enemy bullet or as punishment when your superiors inevitably found out what had happened.

She supposed that it had began in her childhood. After her mother passed, the laughter that had permeated the house frequently, seemed to have died with her. There had been moments after her mother's death where Riza attempted to continue to live as if her mother was still there, making even the darkest moments bright again. But her laughter never had the sustaining power that her mother's had, and Riza's laughter would die out quicker in the silent house.

After that, it was just easier for her to be silent and not pretend anymore.

But somehow, during the years when she became an adult, the silence felt as much as falsehood as the laughter did when she was a child. She still never said much, but she didn't have too. With friends like Rebecca Catalina, and the men she worked with, Jean Havoc and Roy Mustang in particular, Riza was guaranteed that her life would never go back to the silence she had grown up surrounded by.

And that was gone now.

As the Fuhrer's personal assistant, Riza perhaps interacted with more people than she had under Colonel Mustang. But every interaction felt as cold as the house she grew up in. Those that knew the reason why she had been transferred out of Mustang's command made sure she understood she was to keep her place in line if she didn't want anything to happen to Mustang. Those that didn't whispered behind her back about what she could have done to garner such a position.

Riza didn't pay their rumors any attention. Nor did she respond to the jeers and catcalls from some of the more immature of the soldiers as she walked down the halls. It was nothing worse than when she was a child and the whispers followed her from the other children in town. Of course, the things they said weren't sexual in nature.

It had been months since the separation of the whole team, and weeks since she discovered Selim Bradley's true identity as the homunculus Pride and the phone call from the colonel. And while she still had Black Hayate at home, his placating whimpers and gentle pawing didn't quite have the same effect that being surrounded by the laughter and conversations of those people she'd come to hold most dear.

She sat at her table staring at the phone across from her. Her hands were curled around a cup of tea that probably was only lukewarm at this point, but she couldn't bring herself to let go of the cup to warm the tea again.

It would be so easy. It would be so easy to simply reach across the table and dial one of the few numbers she had memorized since moving to Central. She would only have to say a few words as Elizabeth and then she could hear his voice. He would have been there for a couple of hours at this point, still keeping the image he wanted the rest of the world to see at the forefront.

It would be so easy to dial the numbers for the simplicity of hearing his voice.

Yet her hands stayed around the cup. It was too dangerous. She couldn't contact him, she couldn't risk throwing the one remaining safety net they had out. If they were to discover his network, all they had been working these many months for would be for naught.

Hayate's tags jingled as he made his way from his bed in the corner to his mistress's feet. Gingerly, he reached out and pawed her ankle. Riza looked down at the growing pup to see his eyes jump from the door to her and back to the door. Riza glanced at the clock and saw that it was the time she regularly took Hayate out for his nightly walk.

"Alright boy. We'll go out. Let me take care of my tea and then I'll grab my coat."

Satisfied, Hayate's tongue lolled out at the side of his mouth and his tail wagged, before he went to stand by the leash hanging on the wall. Riza smiled as she watched his happy trot, before gathering her teacup and moving to place it in the sink. The liquid inside it had gone cold. Riza was almost tempted to set it aside so she could reheat it after the walk, but there was only a swig or two left. Setting aside her aversion towards the cold, she quickly swallowed the last of her tea to keep it from waste.

Hayate let out a small bark indicating his impatience, when the telephone rang. Riza only blinked for a moment before walking over to the phone. She paused wondering who could possibly be calling her that late at night before picking up.

"Hello? Hawkeye speaking."

There was silence on the other end. Riza was tempted to return the phone to the cradle, and continue on to take Hayate for his walk, but something told her wait for a few moments.

"Oh?" The voice on the other end was subdued, but it was enough for Riza's beating heart to ease its pace. "I was under the impression I was calling a cab."

Riza let out a breath. It was only Roy. She wondered if he was pretending to be drunk, or was actually drunk this time. His voice had been so quiet she almost couldn't determine. But she was nearly certain that he was actually drunk this time. He didn't make any attempts to keep the melancholy from his mannerisms then.

"Sir." This was even more dangerous than when he called her after Pride revealed himself, simply because when he was truly drunk, he vocalized his feelings more frequently. "How much have you had to drink tonight?"

Roy was quiet on the other end for another period of time.

"Perhaps one or two more than I should." There was a small noise from the other side of the phone line. Riza couldn't tell it if it was a hiccup or a sniffle.

Riza looked over to the other side of her apartment and saw Hayate waiting patiently for his walk outside. She had trained him well, but even the most well-trained dog would go against his training should he be left on his own for too long. It seemed apt she would think of this now. She had told Roy it was too dangerous for any direct communication between them after the first call, but everyone had their limits. Roy had simply reached his.

"Sir, you need to hang up and call a real cab. I'm unable to come and retrieve you. You know this." Despite the stern tone her voice had begun in, there was no denying the softness that crept in and took control by the end.

"I know. I just—I just really miss talking with you. Hearing your voice."

Riza attempted to swallow around the lump that seemed to suddenly form in her throat. Her nose began the familiar tickle she recognized as the precursor to tears. She refused to let them form in her eyes. Tears would do neither of them any good. Even if they formed because they were on the same wavelength. Knowing he needed to hear her voice almost as much as she needed to hear his, it felt right.

The overwhelming cold receded somewhat. She was still isolated, cut off from nearly everyone she had come to see as her family, but she wasn't alone. She would never be alone again.

"I know," her voice had nearly become as soft as his, "I know sir. But I need you to remember what you promised me. I need you to keep that promise for me now."

The promise that he wouldn't stick his neck out until the time was right to enact their plan. That he wouldn't entice those around him to look into his activities any closer. That he wouldn't directly contact her when they knew how willing he would be to ensure no harm came to her.

Like the trained military dog he was, he agreed. It was a drunken mumble, but it satisfied Riza.

"Thank you sir. I wish you luck finding a cab for the evening."

"Goodnight, Lieutenant."

While the words were nothing out of the ordinary, he often said them as they parted ways after a long evening finishing the paperwork he had neglected, the tone was too revealing. It was the tone of one lover to another. The lump in Riza's throat caught again, and her farewell came out somewhat strangled. Roy made no notice of it, as the phone clicked almost as soon as the words left her mouth.

After a few deep breaths, regaining the control over her emotions, Riza turned to take Hayate out for his walk. Only to see that he wasn't there. A small glimpse of his tail and a small yellow puddle where Hayate had been waiting for her greeted her line of sight instead.

Rather than getting upset at the young pup, Riza walked over and coaxed Hayate from his hiding spot. Shame was written plainly across the pup's face, ears and tail drooping. He whimpered, attempt to plead for forgiveness from his mistress. Riza gave a comforting smile and rubbed the top of his head before scratching behind his ears like he liked. Hayate's tail, while still not up to the normal position, rose a bit and wagged slowly. He nuzzled his face closer to Riza's hand.

"You two really are a lot alike. Neither of you want to disappoint me by disobeying, yet somehow still do." She caught the look on Hayate's face and spoke to him again. "But this one was on me, I was the one to disobeyed and answered the phone instead of taking you out."

Even if the phone call was the exact thing she had needed at that moment.

"Let me clean up the mess, then I'll take you out for a proper walk, see if I could make it up to you."

Hayate's answer was a lick to the palm of her hand. Riza accepted.


End file.
